Paytm Money Taps Veteran FinTech Exec As New CEO

Paytm Money, which bills itself as India’s largest online investment and wealth management platform, announced Wednesday (July 29) it has appointed Varun Sridhar as its new chief executive.

The veteran FinTech executive will be in charge of the launch and development of firm’s equity brokerage arm and will report directly to Paytm Money President Amit Nayyar.

Sridhar has had a long track record in the payments industry, having helped lead “the digital transformation journey of some of the top retail banks in India and abroad,” Paytm noted in its announcement of the appointment on its blog.

In his last post, Sridhar launched realme PaySa, a FinTech platform on mobile, as CEO of FinShell India. Before that, he worked at BNP Paribas for nearly eight years, helping with the firm’s acquisition of Sharekhan. As a board member and executive committee member at the firm, Sridhar also helped drive “the scale-up of the digital equity brokerage & mutual fund business.”

Nayyar, Paytm’s president, noted the firm’s new CEO is expected to play a major role in the company’s expansion plans. Based in Bengaluru, Paytm has more than 300 employees and 6 million users on its platform, with plans to spend Rs 250 crores over the next 12 to 18 months to launch an equity brokerage and other new businesses.

“Paytm Money is on a mission to empower millions of Indians with wealth management products,” said Nayyar in the announcement. “We are very excited to welcome Varun, whose experience in retail banking, broking, and wealth segment would help us accelerate our goals. I look forward to working closely with him to expand Paytm Money further.”

Paytm also announced it has hired Amit Kapoor as its new CFO and vice president, with Kapoor previously serving as CFO of Aviva India, a life insurance company.

“I am thrilled to be part of the team that is responsible for introducing wealth management services to consumers in both India and Bharat and making meaningful financial inclusion simple & easy,” Sridhar said in a statement.